#kataang salt

[valariecomet]

Honestly seeing (mostly kataang and maiko shippers but not just them) say ppl need to move on from what Bryke did with book 4 air makes me genuinely mad.

When I first started watching the show I was basically bullied out the fandom for drawing Zutara fanart. I was either 11 or 12 at the time and it was during 2020. A bunch of people older than me were mocking me for my fanart, not even because it was bad (not that if they did it would have been justified) no, because it was of a ship they like. I was called a whole bunch of colourful names and slurs and got accused of some horrible things just for liking Zutara and it did affect me.

Now, imagine 12 year old me finding and watching Book 4, do you think that just because that was in 2008 it didn't affect me? No! Of course it did! If anything it made me feel worse, so much so I left the fandom for two years and I only got back into ATLA when I was 14, even then I have only recently started engaging with the fandom again. Just because it occurred in 2008 doesn't mean it doesn't affect people now and I'm sure I'm not the only kid who has been discouraged by that video. If you were a kid at the time or not, the video can and has had an affect on people.

Also, it's not like Bryke were kids when they did that, no, they were full grown adults using children's fanart to mock them. It was disgusting and the fact they have never apologized, as far as I know, is gross. It doesn't matter how long ago it happened because it happened and still affects people, I don't think people should be forced to move on just because you believe that it isn't a big deal or it was ages ago so they should be forgiven. If you don't care that's fine, but don't try to force people to feel different to how they feel.

If your a Zutara shipper who's fanart was in that video, I am genuinely so fucking sorry. That is horrible and I can't imagine how it could have affected you. I know if I was in your situation I would still be upset about it to this day because of how discouraging the video was. I know your probably not reading this but if you are I feel for you.

Also I'm writing this after trying for about two hours to complete the gosh darn pachinko machine level in super Mario sunshine so if I sound a bit emotionally charged it's because I have just spend the past two of so hours in agony ✌️

Edit: I forgot about the Azulaang and Tokka scenes in the video since I hadn't watched it in ages, you guys too I'm so sorry, that was so cruel for you guys too.

[firelxdykatara]

Was watching sneezys video on K/A v Z/K and wondered slightly off tangent why you (and ill admit that I) never took redcrackle as a red herring pairing? Was it just preference for enemies to lovers or ? Is it because they have meat to them that seems it actually might resolve in a romantic fashion (if xyz reasons and behind the scenes wasn't in the way)?

Prt 2 of the sneezy x rc because to clarify i always wondered why being like they are (not having the same values and always having to leave each other instead of coming together) didn't make you see it as a k/a or m/z?

So I actually answered an ask similar to this quite some time ago, though the framing was a little different--I was asked if I agreed that red crackle was maiko 'done better' and my answer was kinda wordy but I think it boils down to this:

I think a big part of it is that Carmen Sandiego started out giving you the sense that these two characters genuinely loved and cared for one another in the 'childhood friends' portion of their past. ... The thing about maiko is... it was entirely one-sided from the very beginning. Shippers will sometimes try to sell you on them being 'childhood sweethearts', but they really weren't--Mai had a crush on Zuko, to which he was oblivious,...

...

Gray and Carmen, on the other hand, were established as rivals who quickly became best friends over the course of their year in school together. They clearly cared deeply for one another, and Gray was just as upset as she was when Carmen failed their final exams ... They didn't see each other for three years (incidentally, the same length of time between Zuko's banishment and meeting Mai again), at which point they were enemies, and yet Gray was clearly upset at the prospect of having to hurt her.

...

Carmen and Gray both grew as characters separately and together--Mai never grew at all, being the exact same person in her last appearance as she was in her first, with the same beliefs and no indication that anything about her worldview had changed, and this is especially egregious when she was paired as a love interest with the character who arguably had the most dynamic growth throughout the series.

Ultimately, my problems with maiko (and kataang) were never that the characters involved had diverging morals or goals, or that they spent significant portions of time separated--those are things that could make for juicy romantic development if given adequate time and page- or screen-space to grow and add to the tension between them until it eventually boils over. The real issue is that neither of these ships actually sold me on the mutual development of their romantic feelings or relationships.

And actually, maiko and kataang both share the problem of one-sided interest being established and nothing being done to make the journey from unrequited to requited love seem believable for the characters who did not originally share these feelings. Aang's crush on Katara is abundantly clear from the beginning of the show, where he hatches from his ice egg and imprints on the first girl he's ever seen in his life like a baby duckling. Katara is entirely oblivious to his interest in her even when he tries to act upon it (take the Cave of Two Lovers, for example, where they kiss to light their way forward and Aang seems flustered and clearly wants to talk about what just happened, but Katara seems to feel nothing except relief and excitement that their plan worked and she can now find the way out), until quite late in the series when, after Aang rather aggressively projects his own feelings onto her, she suddenly seems to reciprocate. Likewise, it is established in a flashback that Mai had a crush on Zuko, but there's zero indication given that he ever noticed her feelings, much less returned them (which makes sense given that he was ten years old at the time and she was his sister's friend and helped to torment him), and no care or attention is given at all to his feelings towards her in the present until suddenly they are dating at the start of book 3.

Then with maiko you have the added issue of nothing ever being done to resolve their stark differences in worldview. At the end of The Boiling Rock, Mai turns on Azula to save 'the jerk who dumped [her]', not because she suddenly realized she was wrong and the Fire Nation needed to change. And at the end of the show you have evidence that Zuko had completely forgotten about her (despite the fact that he could quite possibly have thought she died defying Azula to save his life, and never once seems to think about her again afterwards), and they just... get back together. Because reasons, I guess. Because Mai says 'I guess I kind of like you' and that's supposed to be a good reason for two people to get back together despite none of the things that made their relationship untenable in the first place having changed.

On the other hand, Gray goes through an entire arc on the show after getting his memories back where he comes to realize that working with VILE was not worth losing Carmen, and it wasn't worth Carmen losing herself. And while you could certainly make the argument that at the end of the day he was still saving Carmen because he loved her (however you interpret that love; I personally view it as romantic but obviously the show did not choose to make any specific Carmen-centric ship canon in the end), not because his own moral center had shifted away from the villainous, I would counter that taking a stand against VILE was a clear indication that he had discovered something that was worth more to him than his criminal inclinations. And there was actually a relationship there to serve as a foundation, plus the obvious potential for him to join Team Red in the future and use his skills for good rather than evil.

I have always been a proponent of the redemptive power of love, incidentally. I think that one of the most beautiful forms of redemption is choosing to change because of love, because the act of falling in love and recognizing that love is inherently transformative. Because love changes us and makes us want to be better versions of ourselves. (Or sometimes worse, I do love a good corruption arc too but that's a different topic.)

But the thing is that I ultimately need to believe that love exists in order to buy its power to redeem. I never saw any reason to believe Mai and Zuko were in love beyond very surface-level indications of attraction and an otherwise shallow relationship where they never seem to connect on any deeper level--and not for lack of trying on Zuko's part, here is an excellent essay about their lack of emotional intimacy. Carmen and Gray, meanwhile, had a close friendship and deep emotional bond which persisted through Gray's forced amnesia and that changed him enough that he let Carmen go and then took steps to get her away from VILE after they captured and brainwashed her, branding himself a traitor and risking imprisonment or death to do so.

You can't just skip the part where the story shows us how and why a couple are in love or might have fallen in love and then try to convince me that they are and this isolated moment of sacrifice embodies it. You've gotta put in the work! And atla ultimately fails to do so for either of their main canon ships. (Zutara on the other hand..... but that's another essay. Cough.)

[ladyelainehilfur]

Kataang isn't a bad ship, they're just boring and aggressively mild mannered.

[firelxdykatara]

And the issue with this too is that Bryke don't even realize that's what they portrayed, which tells me they didn't do it on purpose and that makes it especially galling!

Like, when asked about Aang as a father the response was (paraphrased, I don't have the source off hand) 'oh Aang wasn't that bad, Kya and Bumi were just jealous' and it's like... really? That's what you're going with? These 50/60+ year old fully grown adults are still stewing about petty jealousy over their younger brother getting taken on a couple airbender-exclusive trips as kids to the point where it's colored their perceptions of said childhood their entire adult lives?

And the fact is that this reading simply isn't supported by the text! If Aang 'wasn't that bad', why didn't he ever even once mention that he had other children to the Air Acolytes who practically worshiped him? Why did Bumi feel the need to apologize to a statue of his dead father for not being born an airbender and then say 'I hope I made you proud'--not for anything he had done or any accomplishment he'd made, but because the universe had randomly gifted him airbending? If Aang 'wasn't that bad', why weren't his other two children included on ANY of the trips he took with Tenzin, including to Ember Island, a place with no airbending significance but a great deal of significance to the gaang as a whole and their adventures? And why didn't he think it important to teach his other two children about fully half of their cultural heritage? Were they not every bit the Air Nomad that Tenzin was even though they could not airbend?

And frankly, the way the three k/a kiids are treated in LoK--Kya is Water Tribe because she's a waterbender, Tenzin is Air Nomad because he's an airbender, Bumi is cultureless because he's a nonbender until he becomes an Air Nomad when the universe gifts him airbending--is so at odds with the themes of the first series that it almost seems like it had to have been deliberate, but then the question is... why? Why make a whole show about the importance of unity and hope in dark times and striving for peace and love over division and hate, and then have the kids of the fucking avatar in the very next series act as if their culture is entirely predicated on their bending status? Which is an especially bad look when the entirety of the first season of said series centers around the oppression of nonbenders and it's very weird how these two streams are never allowed to cross. (Because, again, I suspect it was not at all the intended message. I think Bryke are just that bad at storytelling that they never thought through the implications here.)

"Why do you want to make a deadbeat dad out of Aang?", "Aang wasn't a bad father, he was just flawed!"

No one said this to me personally, but those or similar claims I read coming from people defending Aang and his actions towards his non-airbender children.

The thing is: I and many A:TLA fans don't want to make a deadbeat dad out of Aang. And for the flawed-thing: where do people draw the line?

I draw the line when the non-bender son apologizes to his father's statue for something he had no control over. Because he felt his father's disappointment, likely more than once in his life.

I draw the line when an air acolyte—one of the persons who are supposed to know everything about Aang's life—doesn't know that her messiah has more than one child. That means Aang never, ever talked about his other children. Wanna prove me wrong? Then show me other air acolytes later on in the same episode who indeed know about his other children and love the stories Aang, as a proud father, used to tell them about Kya and Bumi. And his soulmate Katara...

I draw the line when a father, who barely sees his other two children and his wife who is supposed to be his soulmate, decides to take whole vacations with his one airbender son and neglects the rest of his family even in his free time.

So, no, I don't want to make a deadbeat dad out of Aang. The narrative did it. Bryke did it, and, as someone who loves Aang, I was pissed af. Cancel Bumi's apology, the scene with the air acolyte and the vacations, keep Aang travelling with Tenzin alone to the air temples as some kind of duty and show me beautiful memories of Aang hugging and playing around with his whole family, and I believe that he was just flawed.

The family portrait in which Tenzin was a few months old and didn't even show signs of airbending isn't enough evidence—none at all. You find those happy-smiling portraits in every happy and unhappy household (Pink's song "Family Portrait" comes to mind). I never read the comics, but heard they retcon the scene in Korra so far that it would only make sense if Kya and Bumi would have memory loss or dementia.

The Aang I know from A:TLA would've loved to pass on his culture to all of his children, airbenders or not. They don't have to be airbenders to learn about it.

Bryke are great world builders and artists, but no writers, they should let other people do the job. They are literally the only writers I know who refuse to learn from their mistakes, keep on retconning instead, and are defended by some people among the fandom for it.

And surprise, surprise: what Katara thought about it, if she said anything to Aang or if she just sat back and watched, wasn't even mentioned in the talk between the siblings.

TL;DR: Bryke decided to portray Aang's actions as a father and husband to the extent that it comes off as if he isn't interested in his non-airbender children and Katara at all. It isn't me and the other critics who want to portray him as a deadbeat dad, on the contrary: as someone who loves Aang, it pisses me off. A family portrait makes no difference, because it proves nothing. And neither do the comics. Either you manage to convey the message you want to send in this exact scene, or you miss the mark.

[longing-for-rain]

The “Katara and Aang are both genocide survivors so they can relate to each other better” idea might hold up if, the one time Katara actually got the chance to meaningfully talk about her trauma, Aang didn’t tell her to forgive her mother’s murderer and compare her to a madman who attempted to flood a village full of innocent civilians when she pushed back 🙃

[sad-endings-suck]

some of you are too angry at fictional children

[the-badger-mole]

Why are they like this? I thought it was just Aang who was the creator's pet, but now they're extending it to all the Air Nomads.

And that's because in the show we see NO evidence of sexism in the Fire Nation. But now they're retconning everything to make the Fire Nation (where Zuko, one half of zutara, is from) worse and the Air Nomads (one half of kataang) look even better.

Ugh... tell me the writer's never actually dealt with discrimination in the real world without telling me. It's giving "Why is British food covered in beans?" "Well, whY ARE AMERICAN SCHOOL FULL OF SHOOTERS AND DEAD KIDS????"

It's not a good look for Gyatso. For a pacifist, he was real quick to escalate that argument over nothing. It's also confirming my thought that the Air Nomads have a problem with self-righteous xenophobes who aren't critical of their own beliefs and customs. I wonder if they'll ever address the fact that all Air Nomads being air benders has to be a lie based on the existence of Kya and Bumi in LoK. No wonder Aang turned out the way he did. Look who raised him🙄

[firelxdykatara]

If you're looking for a serious answer, it's because the vast majority of the problems with the way Katara is mistreated and ultimately disrespected in canon boil down to how she is effectively reduced to nothing but The Avatar's Girl/Wife/Mother of the Avatar's Children.

Katara is given almost nothing to do in the comics but be Aang's girlfriend and Yes Man, accepting any decisions he makes with little to no pushback and no arcs of her own (plus wildly out-of-character moments like encouraging Aang to agree to promise to murder Zuko if he starts 'going bad' like that wasn't a clear cry for help from a deeply traumatized friend that Katara should've seen from a mile away). This gets so much worse in LoK when we hear nothing about her own life and accomplishments outside her status as Aang's wife and the mother of his kids (mostly Tenzin, cause the Air Acolytes who worshiped Aang didn't even know he had other children)... except for her allegedly getting blood-bending outlawed single-handedly (which we only hear second-hand, because she's nowhere to be found at the one bloodbending trial we see on screen). The one major exception is the North and South comic, where, yeah, Katara gets her own arc... but it's to learn the lesson that the North recolonizing the South is fine actually and the people who were fighting against it were wrong and she was just being stubborn and resistant to Good and Necessary Change.

Other than that, she's a set piece. In the comics, she gets to look scared a lot and call Aang 'sweetie' and otherwise do nothing of any particular note (not even during The Search, which you'd think she'd take more of a major role in given its parallels to The Southern Raiders and the fact that her first true connection with Zuko came because of empathy for the loss of both their mothers), and in LoK she gets to be old and sad and a widow who only ever talks about Aang and never her own views on her life or the things she accomplished. This meta series goes into detail, working backwards from the end of LoK, and it isn't ship-focused--but the fact is that Katara's identity heavily revolves around Aang in a way that just doesn't make sense from her personality and portrayal in the original cartoon.

(I don't care how old she gets, you will never have me believing that the Katara we got to know in AtLA would just let her people tear themselves apart, or let her family be annihilated without lifting a finger to help or save them. And there's no way she was too old to make it to her granddaughter's Air Master ceremony, literally the most important moment of an airbender's life, are you kidding me? But no, the only losses she ever gets to talk about are Aang's. The only traumas she ever talks about in any detail are Aang's. The only experiences that matter in her life are Aang's, so I guess it makes sense that nothing that doesn't have to do with her relationship to Aang would be important enough to motivate her! -heavy heavy sarcasm-)

And even though her life completely revolves around Aang, she doesn't even get the respect of being widely known to be the one who knows him best. She was married to the man for fifty-odd years, and still, when Korra meets Zuko she tells him you knew Aang better than anyone. Like she didn't spent her whole life being raised and trained by his wife. It's just one more layer to the disrespect sundae--Katara's entire life is Aang, but the same was never true in reverse!

Which is really the crux of the whole thing. And it's not that the problem is inherently the ship--it's the writers, and it's highly likely that if zutara had been canon we would all have regretted it--but the simple fact is, these problems began with the way the ship was written in AtLA, and the disrespect shown to Katara as a character and as a core member of Team Avatar in the comics and LoK is an extension of that. Especially when we consider that the biggest problems with the ship can from it being mandated by the showrunners, who went on to have creative control over the comics and LoK and were not joined by several of the writers from the original show's team who had made early changes to characters and story that made the show so much richer. If zutara had been canon, I have no doubt that Bryke would've fucked it up--in no small part because there'd have been an added element of bitterness at being strongarmed into making something other than their pet favorite ship endgame--but it wasn't, so they couldn't. (Even though they tried ruining their friendship in the comics.) So "society if Katara ended up with a better relationship arc" often tends to involve "society if Katara didn't end up shackled to Aang for the rest of her natural life".

so i'm not in the atla fandom but i sometimes go on this tag called "katara deserved better"

and tell me why 90% of posts in this tag are about which man katara should've ended up with than about her actual character?

like do you guys care about katara or are you just upset your ship didn't become canon?

[theweeklydiscourse]

Zutarians when Katara isn’t used as a prize for Zuko’s redemption arc and doesn’t fall to her knees and suck Zuko’s dick the second he isn’t a racist cunt toward her and instead actually loves Aang, someone who is her best friend and a fellow genocide survivor who understands her trauma and treats her with utmost respect

This is so exciting…my first deranged anon! I’m glad that my humble Zutara discourse could reach you and stir such strong emotions in your heart.

This ask serves as a reminder of the disingenuous nature of antis when it comes to discussing the politics of ATLA. Look closely at the provocative language anon uses as well as their hyperbole, notice how extreme of a characterization it is. See how much of the show they need to rewrite and omit to give their argument a leg to stand on. Notice how they invoke “genocide” and “racism”, not to make any sort of coherent commentary on the show, but to bolster their ship and make their claims seem less outrageous.

According to this anon, we should abandon our tastes in fictional ships and instead *checks notes* be morally obliged ship the two characters on the basis of shared trauma…what a compelling reason lol. Also, the “treats her with utmost respect” is not lost on me, apparently in anon’s mind “utmost respect” includes kissing someone without their consent and dismissing their trauma because their response to it doesn’t align with your values.

[starlight-bread-blog]

It's always "No I don't hate A@ng or Ma! I just want to criticize how their characters were handled", and never "They're fictional and you're offended on the behalf of literal nothing".

Ps: Zks say what you gotta say to avoid harassment. I don't hate them either. It's just absurd that hating a fictional character that doesn't exist is something to be denounced in order to be taken seriously.

[yourhighness6]

The thing about the whole TSR discourse is that a lot of it is centered around who was right: Zuko or Aang. Although I have seen posts focusing primarily on Katara's feelings, I do think it is necessary to remind anyone who cares to listen every once in a while that it doesn't really matter who was right. It matters who enabled Katara to make her own choices and gave her the space to do so, and I think we all know who that was.

[valariecomet]

Right. Because that's how story's work. When a plotline happens off screen that is amazinggggg writing. Absolutely great. I love it when characters randomly start acting entirely different to how they usually do! It's sooooo much fun!

Seriously? I haven't read much of the comics and I don't plan to since from what I have seen they're shit, I read the promise years ago and I tried to read imbalance before giving up on it (the only comic I enjoyed was Katara and the pirates silver), so I'm not even sure if this criticism is justified. However, that doesn't mean this defense is right. If a character grows or changes, show it on screen or give an explanation, if not it's bad writing. Simple.

This isn't the real world, it's fiction so while in real life they should change over that time, in a fictional setting they shouldn't grow off screen because you have to suspend your disbelief and be able to easily follow along. If a character randomly changes it disrupts this flow of the story and messes with the audience. If this happens on the comics (which again, I'm not saying it does) it's bad writing. Plain and simple.

If this seems salty it's because I am. I am genuinely so tired of this fandom, it can't handle any fucking criticism against this show or any of the related bloody comics. Please just accept that nothing is perfect (except Katara) and no piece of media is entirely great. I'm not saying you have to engage with the criticism, just acknowledge there is stuff to critique.

[broadwaybalogna]

I was told I got the “nail on the head” with my refute to this take so I’ll share it on here too because I think people need to hear it.

The only way this person wouldn’t be in the wrong is if shipping Zutara was inherently racist, which it isn’t. Many people paint Zuko to be a “colonizer” since his nation had colonized parts of the earth kingdom (mind you, that’s the only place any form of fire nation colonization has taken place), but Zuko never colonized any place himself, he was too focused on capturing the avatar. So… not a colonizer. What people are doing is conflating Zuko with his nation even though in the years where it actually counted, he was exiled and had no voice in the nation.

This is essentially saying that anyone who was alive when America was a colony and got independence couldn’t date any English person simply because of the fact that they’re British. It doesn’t matter if said english person lived outside of England or lived in England during the war and maybe even one time agreed with them, it’d be morally wrong. But that’s up to the American to decide, not anyone else. If the English person joined America in the battle of Yorktown and single-handedly took down a solid quarter of the British troops, would that be enough for the American to date them? Trick question! It’s not up to you to decide. It’s up to whoever wants to date them.

Before I continue, I was told by woc specifically that this next point was accurate. I consulted them before posting on here.

I think this personally actually stems from a place of racism on the kat/angers side. They see Katara as this young, innocent woc who needs to be protected and can’t fend for herself. It’s a white savior kind of situation. Because she is a woc, she shouldn’t date Zuko but rather Aang since “he proved multiple times just how much he loved her”; “She’s too innocent for Zuko”; or they’ll steer in the completely opposite side of the racism spectrum and say that Katara “bullied” and “harassed” Zuko simply because she didn’t trust him after he betrayed her. They paint Katara to be this aggressive woc who can’t see reason and is rude to people to want to help her. Even if that’s not what they want to convey, it still comes from a place of deeply rooted internalized racism.

All of this to say it’s not racist to ship Zutara. It never was and it never will be. If you want to tag your shit takes with the wrong tags, fine, knock yourself out, but be aware that those actions will have consequences since your point is inherently wrong.

[blackbullet99]

Why SOME Zutara shippers personally disgust me (as a Person of Color).

⛔️WARNING! I’m gonna get into some pretty heavy subjects.

This should go without saying, but I have nothing against most people who ship Zutara. I take no issue with Zuko, I love him, I love his story arc, I love his an Katara’s relationship and if they did become a couple at the end of the show, they wouldn’t be toxic IMO, they’d be crazy rushed and forced, and it would be a prime example of the writers giving into fan-entitlement, but Zuko and Katara don’t have a toxic relationship, at least by the end of the show.

No, what really pisses me off the the racist, sexist, genocide downplaying, colonist supporting stuff some of the loudest Zutara shippers say, and for one anyone who says “it’s just a cartoon”, yes that’s true, but to things depicted are very serious issues, genocide, abuse, imperialism, colonization, slavery, these are issues that I feel strongly about, a majority of the reason being that as a PoC my family, my ancestors went through a lot of this stuff and seeing people online dismiss and downplay these issues all for the sake of a ship is pathetic and can easily reflect their issues of subject matter in real life.

Additionally, I’m aware “Bryke” are white, they have also done plenty of problematic things (and even some episodes), but that’s a story for another time, I’m not here to defend THEM specifically. ZKs always defend Zuko, even though they created him and did a good chunk of his story, so it is what is.

The main issue here, are the Zutara shippers, who claim to be Pro-Katara, the people who whine about Katara deserving better (even though to them Better=Zuko) and act like Aang was a horrible abusive 12 year old misogynist who never respected Katara and sexually assaulted her. Looking at you the-badger-mole / Miss Anthropy.

I’m all for criticism, the issue is, almost none of the criticism regarding Aang are valid, and even the one’s that have some validity grossly villainize the character. What’s even worse is some of these people downplay the effect of Aang’s genocidal trauma, they straight up act like it didn’t effect him, or it shouldn’t effect him, these people blatantly downplay genocide can effect someone all for the sake of some lame-ship.

It isn’t real-life genocide yes, but the issues and trauma that come from genocide are all to real and effect people in real life in many different way. Aang generally tries to enjoy life and remain positive despite what happened, but it effects him regularly, it’s comes up multiple times, he has survivor’s guilt, it something he has to live with for the rest of his life, it’s why he was generally so crestfallen when Appa was stolen, why he tries to preserve his culture. He’s 100 years removed from it, but to him it’s all to recent. If you generally don’t understand the effect of his trauma, then your stupidly braindead, if you dismiss it all for the sake of hating on Aang for some dusty-@$$ ship, your a heartless scumbag, no debate about it.

And despite what these people say they don’t care about Katara at all, they literally only care about her if she’s Zuko’s accessory, Zuko’s prize. Her whole story essentially has to be tied to Zuko, they don’t care about her otherwise. Without Zuko, she’s nothing to these people and they clearly don’t respect her, or value her.

They adultify her, they sexualize her, the create this false narrative that she let people walk all over her and never expressed herself, they invalidate her trauma, they invalidate her accomplishments later it life. They invalidate her canon feelings towards Aang and her initial hatred of Zuko and the Fire Nation. They straight up call her a baby-maker.

The worst of it all, the stuff that gets me the most is how, the act like a dark-skinned girl, becoming an accessory to the nation that colonized her tribe and killed her mother is a positive empowering thing.

The think THIS would be an impactful ending for Katara.

People like sokkastyles actually think imperialist propaganda supports Katara, because it means Zutara.

People will say the Water Tribes were never colonized and once again downplay genocide because it means Zutara.

People will write a young person of color becoming a slave to an imperialist nation and falling in love with their oppressor if it means Zutara, what the heck is wrong with these people?

They think Katara should’ve married Zuko solely because of what Zuko would have to gain, even though he already has a father figure in Uncle Iroh (how do you miss a plot-point that major) and ignoring that fact that Ozai would essentially become Katara’s father in law, and Azulon her grandfather in law, these are literally the people who colonized her tribe and killed her mom. I know you shouldn’t judge people by their parents, but they’re making such a big deal in-laws that Zuko would gain and bathmouthing Mai because of her relatives (even her infant brother) that this just screams hypocrisy.

And of course the racist colonizer supporters are offended that people don’t like this stupid-@$$ take. longing-for-rain actually dismissed a legit indigenous person and called them racist. F*ck these guys.

They can’t handle any acknowledgment that the Fire Nation was an imperialist nation, to the point where people like this spider guy and “lie about Aaron Ehasz Araeph” actually believe the nation that committed mass genocide is more altruistic and innovative than the nation that suffered from genocide. Araeph, the guy on the right even says Sokka and Katara would gain more from Zutara because Fire Nation looks to the future, but the Air Nation is frozen in time. The Fire Nation’s idea of looking to the future literally cost Sokka and Katara their mom and is the reason why Aang’s Nation is sadly “frozen in time”. Sure you, you imperialism supporting dicks

People who downplay very serious issues such as genocide, colonization, trauma and slavery all for the sake of some lousy Wattpad self-insert ship are pathetic loser scumbags. They’re not real fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, they don’t care about the themes or story, just Zuko and Katara being his accessory, the fact that they downplay and ignore all of Zuko’s actions and villainize Aang is beyond stupid and media-illiterate. I love Zuko because he was both antagonist, but also a sympathetic, he’s often temperamental and imature, but gradually matures and becomes kinder, he perpetuates the violence and colonization of his nation, but learns that they were wrong and HE was wrong, he makes a genuine effort to change himself, the world and his nation. If he knew you actively supported the colonization and violence of his nation he would torch your @$$€$.

So all in all, if you wanna downplay genocide and support colonization and slavery just for the sake a of mid non-canon ship because you haven’t matured since middle-school, you’re a dumb@$$ racist b!tch plain and simple, no debate about it. And if any of you toxic idiotic ZK come across this post, go f*ck yourself.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

oh the “engage in good faith with a Tumblr user about Katara’s character on a non-shipping post —> my input is staunchly ignored while they continue ranting —> wonder what I did wrong —> discover this user is actually a Ka/taang shipper and Zutara anti” pipeline

[cobraonthecob]

i hate how they handled the topic of mixed families in the comics but i think that as a character motivation, it would've made more sense zuko and katara were together (or actually, anyone and katara, let's be real) and aang was being a petty little brat about it rather than looking like an idiot that he was in canon

like yeah he'd be an asshole, but at least it'd make SENSE. like idk about y'all, but if i was dating someone outside of my race, i would NOT be pushing for this shit. i'm not one of my country's supreme court justices, after all (bad case of rules for thee and not for me)

i still think aang going right to banning mixed marriages was stupid as fuck and i wish they never wrote that plotline, but pandora's box has been opened and you can't close it. this is what we get. aang pushing for a ban on mixed marriages is canon in the comics, and short of pretending the comics don't exist, i get to be salty and pissed off about it

and i think that's why it's important to divorce the different aangs from each other. aang as he was from the animated show is a different character in the comics, very different from legend of korra, and fanon aang can be whatever you make of him. if you want to steer into his best traits, good for you! but some of us like steering into his worst traits, don't yell at us about it. yell at the canon material for being present and giving us that fuel lmfao