#subtle zutara

[tielmamon]

Redo of an old Team avatar group photo back in 2018 when they first announced the live action 🥹💕

Edit: For reference!! First one was made this year 2024, the 2nd back in 2018 ✨️

[demaparbat-hp]

Crush, crush, crush!

[sneezypeasy]

Oh, and one more thing: Can I just point out that the "I dun fucked up, I guess I'ma wait outside your room all night until you'll let me grovel and atone for my misdeeds" is not, and has never been, a platonic trope?

(I mean, we all know who wrote this episode and how she felt about these two as a couple, but it bears mentioning that even administering a heavy dose of Death of the Author here doesn't absolve this scene from being way more shippy than it deserves to be.)

[amaltheas-garden]

Every Jonerys theory acts like it's stumbled onto something so profound when like half the evidence is the most basic, boring ass visual parallels (dark hair/white hair, night/day, fire/ice, blue/red), as though those aren't the EASIEST parallels to grasp onto and describe like 90% of popular het ships (most of which didn't become canon). Reylo, Zutara, Darklina, Saurondriel, anything by sjm, etc. It doesn't make a ship bad, per se, just a bit obvious for me to think grrm would go for it.

[mostlikelyshutup]

reading zutara fic sometimes is like ah yes you dont understand aang at all do you

[eponastory]

To be honest, it would benefit to leave that out. I find that the show does just fine without the undertones of romance (except in Sokka's case because that is a huge part of the show).

The scarf scene though... melted my heart a little, because it was subtle.

Soooo are they just taking aang’s crush on katara out of this or??

[sokkastyles]

Inside many zutara antis calling the ship "colonizer/colonized" is an Azula stan who hates Zuko for ending colonization.

Some of y'all are not even subtle about it.

[theweeklydiscourse]

It’s a bit of a self-own to express pride that the Zukka shipping base doesn’t produce many essays or meta analysis on the ship. That kind of content and engagement with the text is arguably one of the best things a fandom can do when it comes to shipping. Of course, not everything has to include in-depth analysis because sometimes you just want to ship something based on vibes and a dynamic you like. But…it is kinda odd to see this be touted as some amazing quality to the Zukka crowd (particularly when it’s a not-so-subtle dig at Zutara shippers).

To me, it reads as them trying to prove themselves as “humble” shippers by constantly trying to prove how unseriously they take it. But like…you can take it seriously? I don’t ship Zukka, but I see the appeal and can understand why that dynamic appeals to people, so it puzzles me that a bunch of Zukka shippers pride themselves on this front. Maybe they should consider channeling their energy into writing metas instead of constantly trying to prove that they’re above Zutara shippers lol

[plushytoast]

No because why do I feel like the Zutara bait... might not be bait???????

I wouldn't be saying this if we were just getting scenes of Zuko touching Katara's scarf or Oma and Shu being red/blue. That'd just be your average baiting.

It's that Kataang's moments are being NERFED. He wasn't there during the secret tunnel. He didn't side with her when Pakku was being sexist. She wasn't the first person he saw after he woke from the iceberg. She didn't ground him out of the Avatar state.

Nothing has been added to substitute those vital moments.

The best part?

It's still believable for Aang to be into Katara. Just not for Katara to be into him.

Because they had some "moments" and enough for a twelve year old boy to catch feelings or misinterpret as being something more meaningful and project undertone upon. Which could cause him siding with Pakku because HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT KATARA NEEDS OR WANTS.

Katara, realistically, wouldn't forget that and might hold a grudge.

And is there anything more Zutara than pointing out that Aang is twelve, actually?

Meanwhile, Zutara is getting subtle, bait-esk (or just bait) content which makes sense because it is the first season and the writers don't have much to work with yet. If they build on the Zutara angle in this way in future seasons, that wouldn't just be smart but would save us from a shoehorned Kataang.

I still hope they keep Aang's love for Katara and I want similar for Mai and Zuko, but wouldn't it be great if Aang got to see Katara as more than a romantic interest and for Mai to realize her Zuko (which may have never existed, similarly as Aang's Katara) is gone and she doesn't fit into his life anymore?

I think that'd be nice. Interesting even.

Oh, and Netflix, if you need any points for representation make Sokka have a bi awakening with Zuko only to find the boy is straight and into his sister, because that's my experience genderbent and I would feel very represented. And Tyzula for the win.

[katy-89]

"I can excuse genocide and colonialism but I draw the line at misogynism" :(

Zutara stans...this series doesn't revolve around your crack ship and the author of the reckoning of roku give zero fucks about your crack ship

"Making the Air Nomads look better" they are better Imao Aang and the Air Nomads are>>>>>the fire nation. The show wasn't subtle about it. The fire Nation started a war and committed two genocide (almost three)

If you don't like it stop simping for the sexist genocidal colonizers ❤

[forevermore05]

Why is Zutara so appealing?

(It's been a while and I might be rusty)

I think it's quite easy to say why this duo is so appealing to all of us . I mean just look at the thousands of thousands of posts of why they're so appealing. From the fact that they are similar in mental maturity, their elements compliment each other and the subtle hints of romance that was laced into the show to throw us all off. But what makes this duo the most appealing is: Longing.

Let me explain, the idea of these two getting together can lead to so many possibilities. The fact that could have never will romance makes this even worse. Having such a good storyline and character writing for the two of them and their dynamic and throwing it all away is what hurts the most. These two were at their best when they came together as a dynamic duo whether as friends or as battle partners. Whether that be through their character arcs or through their skill set, they were at their best.

In fact we as fans aren't the only ones who are longing for these two. It's the characters themselves who do that by themselves whether that be Zuko wanting Katara's forgiveness and doing it to make her happy even if it takes him all the time the world. Or when she desperately tries to reach out to him when he takes lightning for her only for her to be interrupted by another lightning strike by Azula. These two have longed for each other even if it was not romantic. It was in their dynamic and how it was written so it reflects on us as fans when they don't get together.

[sulkybender]

Thousands of words of subtle Zutara slow burn but at the end Zuko makes out passionately with Sokka

[demaparbat-hp]

I had the same reaction as Aang to your Spitfire Au. Damn my heart!! I take that when ZK inevitably happens, Katara will evolve into Momtara for Lu-Ten?

Oh, I hope your heart survived!

Spitfire is the Dadko AU, so it stands to reason that the Gaang takes note and makes fun of the whole Dad and Mom dynamic Zuko and Katara have going on, before the two even notice it. She's Momtara before she and Zuko make things official (and making things official is, indeed, the correct wording—everyone but themselves knows that they're a couple). Ten Ten absolutely adores Katara, and she loves him dearly.

[i-am-mldy]

Am I the only zutara fan who isn't thrilled by the subtle ship bait (if it even is) done by NATLA?

Am I the only one who wants Netflix's grubby little money hungry hands off of one of the most iconic non canon ships in cartoon history, just to pander to one of the more vocal sides of the fandom?

Because with the way they're characterizing Katara in this adaptation, I don't even want to see how they would pair her up with Zuko. It would only be a half-assed surface level attempt. Whatever Netflix concocts cannot hold a candle to the fan art and fanfiction the fandom has created and shared over the years. The ship as we know it has been ours and ours alone. I refuse to surrender it and see it bastardized. The last thing we need is for antis to have more ammo.

I would rather they stay consistent with canon and proceed with kataang and maiko. I would rather they improve and evolve these couples rather than pander to "popular opinion". Zutara has thrived with us, so it should just stay with us.

[ok-boomerang]

Hey Lena!

Zutara Drabble # 5 & 8, please. ^.^

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” & “Wanna bet?”

Katara knocked once, briefly, on the Fire Lord’s office door before pushing it open and inviting herself in. She and Zuko had worked together for so long—had been friends for so long—that they no longer had the need, or the patience, for a semblance of formality.

Katara supposed that on some unlucky day in the future she might walk in on him practicing his Iroh impression, or worse (better?), with his pants down. But per usual, the Fire Lord was merely at his desk, head in hand, as his glazed-over eyes scanned some boring parchment.

“Hey Zuko,” chirped Katara, feeling herself almost expand upon seeing him, upon seeing the transformation of his face when his eyes fell on her—the subtle widening of his right eye, the easy smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“Hey,” he said in response, setting his parchment aside and giving her his full attention. A piece of hair had fallen out of his top knot. “My favorite ambassador—"

“Mhm, whatever,” she joked back. “Funny how I become the favorite every time the fishing waters treaty is up for renewal—"

“You’re always my favorite, I just happen to point it out at specific times.”

Katara rolled her eyes, even though she felt her cheeks warm a little at Zuko’s words.

“Anyway,” she said, shrugging off that impossibility, “I’m just delivering the report on the healers in Fire Fountain City.” She handed him another piece of parchment, which Zuko took with some hesitation.

“The report on the healers—?” he muttered, eyes scanning the page. “But I didn’t need this for a couple more days—”

“Yes, well, Tanriq invited me to the Fire Lantern Festival tomorrow evening, so I got it done early.”

She watched as Zuko’s eyes stopped scanning the parchment, but he didn’t look up.

“Tanriq?” For some reason, his voice had gone up in pitch.

“Do you know another Tanriq?” Katara asked, curious at Zuko’s confusion.

“The—the ambassador from the Northern Water Tribe?”

“Of course,” said Katara slowly.

“You’re—together?”

“No,” she said immediately, and then chided herself. “I mean—I’m giving him a chance. So…maybe in the future? We’ll see how it goes—”

“It’s not going to go well,” Zuko interrupted her.

Katara blinked at him. “Huh?”

“I mean,” Zuko said, bringing his hands in front of him on the desk and rolling them together. “I just mean—it’s just a little odd, the two of you—the Fire Lantern Festival—"

“What’s so odd about it?” Katara asked, half surprised and half curious about the issue Zuko saw that she couldn’t. “I like festivals.”

“Right, but do you like them with Tanriq? I—I dunno you will.”

“Sure, he’s a little boring—”

“He doesn’t know you at all!” Zuko interjected, and then quieted, shifting his eyes. But he continued. “I mean, will he know to take you to the food stalls that sell ocean kumquats? Will he take you dancing early enough so you don’t miss the tsungi horn players?”

Katara laughed. “I can tell him not to!” she pointed out. “You don’t need to be worried for me, I’m sure we’ll have a fine time—”

“Wanna bet?”

Katara stared at him. “Do I want to…make a bet about whether I’ll enjoy myself on a date?”

“Um,” said Zuko, shifting in his seat so that the chair squeaked. The panic on his face did not match the regality of his formal robes. “No, that was uncalled for, sorry,” he said. “I—I—”

And as Zuko stuttered, and Katara stared at Zuko’s rapidly reddening cheeks, she came to an unlikely—but perhaps possible?—conclusion.

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

She hadn’t meant to say it out loud. She had to fight the urge to clap a hand to her mouth in horror. And if Zuko had looked skeptical whatsoever, she would have curled in on herself and scurried out the door like a goat dog with its tail between its legs. And then possibly quit her job and moved to the Foggy Swamp.

But Zuko didn’t look skeptical. Zuko did not calmly and coolly reject her suggestion. Instead, he noisily backed up his chair, stood, buried his hands in his hair, and yelped, “Me?! Jealous?! No—no, definitely not!” And then he laughed like an unhinged hyena leopard.

“I—” Katara started, over what sounded like the beginnings of a panic attack. “I—um,” she said, reminding herself that she was a waterbending master and teacher to the Avatar and she was not scared of anything—“I won’t go with him. If you—um—if you don’t want me to,” she said, knowing that her tone had drastically changed from teasing to serious.

Zuko’s laughter died down and he matched her serious expression. “Katara, no—I would never try to insert myself in your personal life—I’m sorry, I just got, um—” he paused, but didn’t finish his sentence.

“Can I take your bet then?”

“What?”

“But for the other side. I bet you I won’t have a nice time with Tanriq.”

“I—look—I was being childish—of course you’ll have a nice time—”

“Maybe,” she said, and Zuko’s face fell for the briefest moment before he schooled it to one of impassive regard once more. “But I think I’ll have a nicer time with someone who knows me better, like you said.”

Zuko looked away from her and stretched his arm behind him to rub the back of his neck. “I think you should go with whoever you want to go with,” he muttered.

Katara wanted to scream. But…she did want this more than she wanted to scream. “You,” she said, only a smidge of frustration in her voice. “I’d rather go with you.”

Zuko’s eyes snapped to hers. “Oh? Is that—is that—is that right?”

“If, um, if you want to,” she murmured, suddenly feeling her mortification rise. What if she’d gauged this wrong? She did get along with Hu in the Foggy Swamp. She could totally start a new life there.

“Yes,” Zuko said immediately. “I mean—yes. I do want.” His eyes were boring into hers.

“Um, great,” she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “So…I’ll tell Tanriq nevermind…and you’ll just need to tell your guards—”

“No,” Zuko said, leaning forward now, and Katara felt her blood thrill. “Many of the festival goers will wear masks. We can too.

“Really? But I don’t have a mask—"

“Don’t worry, I have an idea for us.”

[ecoterrorist-katara]

You mentioned that your first ship was percabeth what did you like about it? I'm just rereading the books since I havent read it in over a decade and Im surprised how well it still holds up with the friends to lovers. Personally I feel like it did the subtle lines between platonic and romantic and how with each book the lines got blurred. I feel like with FTL its actually really hard to write organically because its hard to write that change from platonic to romantic without one side seeming like they are almost being convinced into it (usually the girls side).

hello anon!! Sorry it took me SO long to get to your ingenious ask. I was like "hmm haven't read PJO since I was thirteen, time for a re-read" and I just kept...getting sidetracked.

Even as an ETL enjoyer myself, I subconsciously took it for granted that enemies-to-lovers is inherently more toxic in comparison to friends-to-lovers. You're absolutely right, though, that FTL comes with its own set of baggage. For whatever reason, I've never extrapolated that baggage to the trope as a whole.

One of the critiques I often see of ETL is that F/M ETL reproduces heteronormative gender roles and power dynamics*. That’s true, but that's a risk in FTL too, like you said. "Guy falls for girl and pressures her to return his feelings" is very much a gendered dynamic. The friendzone is, by definition, unique to FTL ships, and there are many many well-known examples where a male character pressures his female friend to return his feelings and makes her uncomfortable: Gale and Katniss, Bella and Jacob, Katara and Aang, etc. To be clear, I absolutely don't mind if one party falls first in an FTL dynamic, but how that person conducts themselves makes all the difference. (I also don't think it's a coincidence that in the examples I listed, the only character to end up with the girl they liked was Aang...who was also the only character written by men.)

Also, this is a side note, but I think it's pretty funny that people think friends-to-lovers is inherently wholesome? Have we forgotten that Heathcliff and Cathy is a classic case of childhood friends-to-lovers? Less dramatically, I'm very partial to versions of Wolfstar where Sirius and Remus are both huge messes as a result of trauma/war etc and say mean things to each other.

Anyway...onto Percabeth. I loved Percabeth for the same reasons you do: I thought the slow burn was impeccably organic. I also loved the mutual pining. Even though the book was from Percy's POV, it was very obvious to me that Annabeth liked him, possibly even before he recognized his own feelings. The mutual devotion in their friendship felt really special to me and I never felt like romantic interest will jeopardize the friendship. Fundamentally, my favourite friends-to-lovers romances have this kind of dynamic: it’s fine if they don’t get together because their friendship can survive anything, but of course they will -- it's obvious to everyone!

A gradual slow burn friends-to-lovers is catnip to me, whether in original fiction or fanfic. I want to be salivating for the mutual confession! I want to feel the yearning! I want to giggle in a very high-pitched fashion and scream when they get it wrong! Some of my favourite fics, even in ETL ships, are actually FTL. My favourite Dramione fic of all time is Lionheart. As for Zutara, basically all post-canon fics are FTL: refraction, Katara Alone, The Horizon, Another Word for Alchemy, Half Asleep, etc. FTL is hard to write, but when it's done well? Chef's kiss. Delicious.

A lot of Ka/taang vs. Zutara discourse tends to fall along "do you prefer FTL or ETL," with the conclusion that if you prefer FTL you'll like Ka/taang...but it's precisely because I'm an FTL enthusiast that I don't like KA! I think it was written poorly! It stumbles right into the exact pitfalls of FTL you identified, and there are so many better FTL romances out there that don't rely on pressure as a source of conflict/drama.

Anyway: anon you've made me think a lot, and I'm very grateful! Big hug to you.

*Footnote: obligatory disclaimer that fiction is fiction and people can ship whatever dynamic they like.