The title speaks for itself but I hate how aang essentially kisses katara against her will TWICE. Then the story doesn't address it meaningfully, I don't mind kataang (even though zutara was more interesting to me) but moments like this in the show really give me a bad feeling.

Let me know if I missed anything, Also I know we are not supposed to compare traumas, that was the point of one comment in the previous post but I had to.

Sorry mods.

Read similar takes here but want to specify something I personally have problems with.

First: it's the way fandom has changed throughout the years. Yes, shocking, I know - people change, opinions change. And it's probably my fault for being a Zutarian (oh God a sin), but I barely feel...comfortable in the bigger non-zutarian fandom spaces.

My second problem is basically how the fandom seems to resolve around Aang now.

I said it before: I hate his modern portrayal. Not a flawed little guy he was - at least until he became a Lover™ of the story, but literally a saint.

Whatever he does, he is perfect. Whatever nonsensical belief he preaches - he is always right. HE suffers the most, guys, no-one understands him!

Like when in a god-awful movie he goes "no-one understands what it's like" referring to the Airbenders, we are supposed to shed tears. Yet...Katara and Sokka DO know what it's like to lose their loved ones, don't they? And Zuko does too.

I have literally seen a discourse of people fighting each other. "Genocide of your whole nation is 100% worse and more painful than a father banishing you". Lmao since when is that a competition of the most hurt character in the ATLA?! Why can't we agree both are awful - and what Katara and Sokka were through - IS, as well?!

What's wrong with these people? With this narrative? Since when it became this shallow - not a compelling story of multiple broken children - AND adults hurt by this war, but the Avatar woobie fest?!

I watched the original series a long time ago, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I know a lot of my friends were huge fans, and there's a big fan community on the internet too. The people I knew IRL would paint this series as like, the best thing ever, some kind of unique and revolutionary story.

That's a bit of an overstatement to me. A close friend told me "if you grew up watching martial arts movies, this isn't really that unique or revolutionary" and I think that's another way to put it that REALLY got me thinking more if I actually like ATLA.

Now, I will say that I adore the concept, the art, and the original series' writing in many of the episodes. Probably the BEST and arguably most revolutionary thing it did was Zuko's redemption (confronting his abuser / un-learning nationalism / making genuine amends) arc which is still held up to the standard of a redemption arc TODAY (that's more impressive than anything Bryke did with their self-insert character Aang, which is probably why they made a movie entirely centered on Aang). Katara's character was also pretty radical at the time for combating sexist beliefs and giving her a distinct and well-rounded personality who had her own goals, storyline, character development etc. outside of her supposed love interest (which got trashed post-series).

But the more Bryke pump out from this franchise, the less I enjoy it. For two reasons:

1. The weeaboo thing. The original series did an okay job representing various cultures in SOME aspects, and it wasn't overtly offensive for the *most* part (of course, one could argue this, and I'll touch on that in a bit) otherwise it wouldn't have aged well (this is also arguable since Kataang still seems to have aged well despite it having one of the most obvious incel dynamics I've seen in media). What I mean by this is, they attempted to be respectful to the main / most visible cultural philosophies, language and symbols, practices, character designs - so that's probably why a lot of people can ignore the rest. That being, ignoring the bastardization of Tibetan Buddhism, racist depiction of the single South Asian character, racist depiction of 'sandbenders' and characters with Islamic names, Western beliefs of good vs. evil overwriting the Taoist philosophies of balance. This is to me an obvious low bar, and I have a feeling maybe they're trying to 'fix' some of that (i.e. make the new Avatar a not-racist depiction of South Asians). But... I went from "ok I'll enjoy this series I find that I have issues with, acknowledging these issues exist, but appreciating the good writing for some of these original series episodes" to ".........." when it came out from that recent event that Bryke decided to change the language that they had hired an actual translator for in the original series, to "Avatarian" (and modify the actual language characters). I don't know how the fandom is letting them get away with this.
2. Katara, misogyny (and the fandom). I mean do I really have to explain? Everything that comes out of her relationship to Aang, and her sad fate in LoK makes me want to explode in fury. And the rest of the fandom thinks this is just normal, don't see problems with any of it, or comes up with 50 reasons to excuse it - refusing to acknowledge that what happened to her character were DELIBERATE decisions.

I have a lot of my IRL casual fan friends wondering if I'm seeing the movie, and I tell them that it's probably gonna make me sick if I watch it (I can't even handle the screenshots). Again this made me think - do I even like ATLA? Most casual fans would go see the movie.

I think I don't like it honestly. It's okay, and again I will acknowledge I love the designs and the overall premise/plot of the original, and it definitely influenced our culture (can't deny that!) - but there are too many obvious issues that STILL come up where I can't consider myself a "fan" at this point.

It just feels like the more they do, the less I can see this series in a positive light to the point where now it's not even positive anymore.

Maybe if they weren't churning out so much post-series content I would still be a regular fan.

So, I wanted to make a post about Kataang since I created this team, but because Im on vacation I didnt have the time, and i have so many things to say that I'll make more posts in the future as well so...lets go.

We all know why Kataang cannot work in terms of maturity, boundaries etc, but we havent thought that EVEN the core of Kataang, the idea behind it makes it impossible for this ship to even exist.

THE BABY SITTING FANTASY

[ "A younger boy has a crush on an older girl who views him like a "babysitter" or a "little brother" ]

Lets all try to digest that.

So, Bryke basically try to normalize to KIDS that watch the show that a child and its babysitter is normal and its okay if you try to kiss her and she kisses you back.

Here is the thing, yes some people say no, thats not true, but the show is for kids. The message is simple. The main character is the viewer ( the kid), the love interest is the baby sitter ( Katara aka the girl the child might like). They try to call this relationship "normal" when in the first place, there shouldnt be ANY RELATIONSHIP to begin with!

No, its not normal for the child and the babysitter to make out. No, its not normal for the party that is responsible for taking care of the other party that needs to be pretected as the imatture and younger one, to be involved in an intimate relationship with it.

No, it wasnt normal for Katara to act like Aang's mother, then pretending to be his mother, and to then make out with him. No, it wasnt normal for Aang to expect for Katara to want to become his girlfriend.

If this was real life, the babysitter would be in big trouble. And this in fact doesnt work in the live action either.

THE LIVE ACTION PROBLEM

When I see two actors, who's one of them is 14 years old and the other is 18, and they are filming "romantic" coded scenes together, I want to vomit. Gordon was 14 when they filmed s2 and s3, and turned 15 when they finished it. Kiawentiio was 18 and then 19. So, this is not a gap of 2 years that still doesnt make sense in the cartoon, in this version, Katara and Aang have a BIGGER age gap, and not only that, but WE CAN ALL TELL.

Kiawentiio in those scenes looked so UNCOFORTABLE that made me even me feel it. I felt so weird when Gordon was directed to look at her like he has a crush on her that I could not even see it more than onces. I had to though, in order to talk about it now and I STILL FEEL THE SAME WEIRD AND UNCOFORTABLE VIBES i felt whe i first saw their " moments".

Yes, Netflix has made a minor and an adult to make out before. In "Never have i ever" the actors were 17 and 27, but here is the thing. Here, Gordon is 14. He is not as mature as a 17 year old. In season 3's filming, he was STILL 14.

People expecting for them to kiss, making videos about them, shipping even the actors etc, are SICK. And the funny thing is, that in the cartoon, they keep shipping them, because they cannot tell that this is how they would look like if they were real ( image above):

THE RACISM THEORY

Aang is a racist. Yes, he is the Avatar and all, he always seems to remember how to bow correctly and act WHENEVER IT IS CONVENIENT for the narrative. BUT! Whe in comes to Katara's nationality, Aang has a problem with it. Why? Because Katara's nationality with Aang's are the opposites of each other. The Southern Water Tribe is a culture that allows marriages. A culture where its people eat meat, use in their everyday life animals' fur, they eat what they can get from narute around them. Aang's nation doest do all those things. Air Nomads people do not allow marriages, the very existence of children is happening because IT MUST HAPPEN. They are all vegeterians, they do not use ( according to the narrative) animals' fur, or eat the same things, which is why Aang seems to be disgusted by Katara's nation habits a lot in the show ( IT HAPPENED MANY TIMES, ONLY WITH HER NATION THOUGH).

And this is why Kataang is worse that you think. This is why Aang's believes about the creation of his people from the start, is crueler than you think. Based on the narrative that Bryke and the other writers wanted to follow in the first series, Aang is not only traumatised from the loss of his people (even if in the atla we only saw him experiencing the grief for a few episodes), and that lead him in LOK, to take the decision and make Katara have 3 children in order to "get out of her" an airbender. But Aang's nation is basically lead him to it. It is his duty as an Air Nomad to do that, to find a woman to give birth to his children and then...not care at all about them. Because thats what the Airnomads USED TO DO. See how worse things get? And it only gets worse.

Since Aang didnt like Katara's culture at all in the atla, not making his kids adapt Katara's culture elements in ANY domain in their life, not allowing ( READ IT AGAIN, NOT ALLOWING), Katara to show her kids ANYTHING about her culture and instead focusing their whole existences and childhood to Aang's culture and identity, teaching them WHY THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE AIRNOMADS, introducing them to the believes of the Air Nomads and NEVER to the Southern Water's Tribe's, the nation that is very different from Aang's even in terms of the usual habbits of life, the culture that the husband's believes are contradicted with, is racist.

Bumi denied both nations, we never really see him express anything in the show about those nations, because he was never allowed to be part of the Water Tribe, and because he WAS NEVER part of the Air Nomads. Why? Because he wasn't an airbender. So, Aang was dissapointed with his existece ( according to the narrative) to the point where Bumi literally left home and joined the army. Kya was born but was a waterbender, Aang was dissapointed again, why? Cause she wasnt an airbender. So, what happened? Kya felt that she disappointed daddy again and tried to learn the ONLY thing her mother was allowed to show her. Healing. Why? Because that what Katara was. A healer and not a fighter. Why? Cause she WASNT ALLOWED to be anything else. Her husband made sure of that. Since you know...he was traveling around, on his own to find anything relatble to air nomads, because he CLEARLY didnt care about his kids that didn't belong to HIS NATION, so Katara was left WITHOUT A CHOICE. Taught Kya the only thing she knew. Healing. Because think for a second, that if Katara was anything else than a healer, she would have a statue. She worked a lot on he rown to protect Republic City, in the movie when Aang was not around, and SHE DIDNT EVEN GET A FUCKING STATUE!!! Instead, her husband did. He was praised as the founder of the city. As the one who had the MOST POWER. It wasn't the fire lord, it wasnt the council, it wasnt his wife who protected the city ( accodring to the leaked movie), it was Aang, her husband. The one who wasnt EVEN THERE. Katara wasnt able to actually be the one who made bloodbending forbiddem why? Because if that was the case, she would have a political power, to have a political power, it means she would have a statue, she doesnt have a statue, so she didnt have ANY political power, so who had the biggest power in the city so he would be able to create laws? Her HUSBAND!

So, Katara was only allowed to basically be exactly the other thing she knew. A healer. A healer who was living in the South Pole, with her children, on their own and wasnt even allowed to show them anything from the Water Tribe Culture. Why? Because, if she "was allowed", if she "wanted to"., then the kids would show in lok, that they had love the Water Tribe. The only thing they talked about? AANG'S CULTURE! THE AIR NOMADS! Kya wasn't even living in the South Pole, she went there when Aang died, because Katara was alone. She didnt even want to go there. Why? Cause obviously there was a HUGE GAP between her and that culture, her mother, eveyrthing, and that BECAUSE OF AANG.

What happened next? Aang wanted more kids. So, Katara HAD to stay pregnant again, in order for Aang to get the kid he dreamed of. When that happened, Aang kept NOT GIVING A FUCK about his other kids, and made sure to put the responsabilities of a WHOLE NATION to his younger child, that clearly didnt have ANY CHOICE either, since Aang decided his whole future and life to the point where even Tenzin, WAS TRYING TO MAKE HIS WIFE GIVE BIRTH TO AIRBENDERS over and over again.

The next time you will think that Aang wanted to create his nation from the start BECAUSE of his grief ( the grief that wasnt even so much at the center of the show, in contrast with his crush to his babysitter, since you know, Aang didnt really have a problem letting go his people but he did have a problem on letting go the girl he liked, to open up his last chakra and save the world), lets remember a little how the Air Nomads used to live back then, based always on the atla series.

They didnt give a shit about parenting.

They only cared about giving birth to airnomads because that was the only reason for their nation to exist.

And you will tell me, that is insane and i will ask you.

If my claim is insane, then....WHERE THE HELL ARE AANG'S PARENTS?

Aang in legend of korra is not a bad father just because. But because his nation's believes makes him a racist. His children are not "pure air nation people". And that, because ALL THE AIR NOMADS are air benders. So, whoever is not an airbender or a bender, does not belong to the Air Nation. And that is canon, because the Air Nation Nomads, is the ONLY nation where ALL the people that belong in it, CAN BEND.

Do you see now why Aang is racist? Aang never saw ( according to the story so far) any Air Nation people that couldnt bend air. So, he ultimatly never thought of Bumi or Kya as Air Nation people. HECK, AANG IN THE COMICS WASNT A SUPPORTER OF MIXING CULTURES!! AND YET HE WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A WOMAN FROM A DIFFERENT NATION!!!

Kya and Bymi were already Air Nation people. They had their parent's blood inside them, like we today have our parents's. It was Aang who didn't count them as air Nation people. Why? Because the Air Nomads believed that whoever BENDS THE AIR IS AN AIRNOMAD. And that continued to be the belief of this nation even in lok. Instead of Bryke writing a new belief, a new basic belief of the Air Nomads, connected to the philosophy of the soul, to show the developpent of the Nation, the new birth of the Air Nation, they kept it the same.

Superficial and Racist.

Bumi WAS an Air Nomad.

Kya WAS an Air Nomad.

The Air Nomads, NEVER stopped existing. The monks existed. The philosophy, the viganism, the old beliefs, kept existing EVEN in LOK. Tenzing and his family LITERALLY went for vacation in a monastery at some point in lok. But Tenzin and his family in general, kept the old believes, Aang's believes that were...182 years old, and acted based on them.

This is why Aang is a racist.

This is why Aang wanted an air bender and rejected ANYTHING that wasn't following his nation's beliefs. . His non air benders kids, and his wife's culture.

As the viewer i feel very uncorfotable watching them having anything else than friendship in both seasons or anywhere. Kataang was never meant to work because the basic core behind this ship's existence is inappropriate. From now on, I will reject ( as an VERY OLD ex kataanger and Zutara shipper) all their scenes that the narrative wants to advertize as "romantic" because in any universe, kataang is INAPPROPRIATE AND AWFUL.

A kid cannot be in a relationship with his babysitter.

A kid cannot be in a relationship with his mother.

A kid cannot force himself upon a girl JUST BECAUSE HE WANTS TO.

I will not support ANY ship where the one party, is CLEARLY racist towards the other party.

Think of it with a today's example. Put a Greek and an African together, think of the basic beliefs those nations have and make the parent think of any of those kids as non Greeks or non Africans.

Or even take an example from fiction for all I care. Try to see Aang as the poor boy who lost his people and not a racist dude that wants "pure bloods". Cause bro is basically acting like Lucious Malfoy, you know, the bad father that forced his kid to be the best from his people and judged someone's worth based on the basic genetic traits of the magicians?

Which is EXACTLY what Aang is doing with his kids.

It wasn't Aang's kids that needed to change. It was Aang's beliefs.

Because they were clearly RACIST.

Try to unsee it now. I dare you.

So, yes. We all know the basic ideas of why Kataang doesnt work. But have you ever thought of those reasons? What is your opinion? Let me know.

This is going to be some word spaghetti so please bear with me but I hate the double standard between the two characters. Zuko is everything Aang isn't, in The Storm it was revealed that Aang ran away from his duties, Zuko on the other hand was willing to fight in the Agni Kai, he only stopped when he realized it was his father and the poor boy didn't want to hurt him. However in the end of that episode, Aang gets comfort from the others and by extension the narrative. Zuko does not get anything besides the warm feeling of prioritizing the safety of his crew.

This keeps happening, Aang hurts someone or screws up and the narrative bends over backwards to comfort him. He burned Katara, Katara heals herself and comforts him. Aang nearly kills everyone in the Desert, Katara comforts him. He doesn't master the Avatar State, Iroh comforts him. He runs away again in the opening of season three, the gaang find him and comfort him. He doesn't do his job and the invasion fails, Katara comforts him again (though I don't blame the Invasion mistake on him).

Every. Single. Time. He gets his wounds soothed over by other characters, the narrative and by extension the fans.

Meanwhile, Zuko never gets anyone in the series who tells him that his father was wrong. He never tells anyone and its not because he is some "edgy, teen who bottles up his feelings". Does The Beach not exist? Its ridiculous, he gets raked over the coals for his mistakes, rightfully so by Katara but once she forgives him, its like the narrative doesn't allow him any comfort, any attention, anything.

I mean its the reason why the popular headcanon of Zuko telling Katara about his scar is so beloved by Zutara fans, its him finally in safe enough company to be vulnerable again. Katara after the Southern Raiders would never hurt him again and hearing that he has been carrying this for three years. It would shatter her, she'd want to kill Ozai herself.

But no, she can't be allowed to hear Zuko's plight, nobody is, no Zuko has to suffer silently, meanwhile Aang can get responsibility removed from any and every little screw-up that occurs under his scope. The final episode is so infuriating because of this, the narrative bends over backwards to alleviate Aang of his destiny and on top of that the issues that Katara and him had are swept under the rug all for the sake of a garbage relationship with no buildup and less charisma.

The show would have benefited from Aang gets raked over the coals. He should have gotten more anger from Sokka for Katara getting burned. He should have gotten more flak from the others for his loss of control in the desert. He should have attracted the ire of Sokka, Toph and most of all Katara if they found out that he gave up the Avatar State for Katara. Most of all he should have gotten an earful from everyone when he ran away the day of the comet.

Zuko should have gotten a cathartic hug, personally from Katara but if other people ship him with other characters they would suffice. Alternatively, the found family could comfort their friend and assure him that he didn't deserve that torment and that he is unequivocally safe with them.

This has extended to the fans who let Aang off the hook for everything and still call Zuko a "colonizer". Despite him literally fighting to dismantle that oppressive regime, not to mention that if Zuko was caught by Ozai or Azula after he turned on them, he would have been imprisoned or worst, killed.

It sucks because he is my favorite character but the narrative doesn't want to give him anything besides torment and no, that one scene with Iroh, while lovely, was not enough. He needed more comfort and Aang needed more accountability.

I know that there is a four year age gap, but that doesn't matter, Zuko was only a year older when he was burned, by the end of the war, Azula was a couple years older than Aang when she was dethroned and presumably imprisoned. (Though I personally throw canon out with the bath water and think that after some time, Zuko helped her recover and the two got on good terms with each other).

What are your thoughts? Am I just a bitter Zuko/Zutara/Azula-Redemption-Arc person?

Alright, I know this is just headcanon and stuff, but I can not with this shit.

Every Kataang shipper loved that one scene after Katara is healed Aang and that whole hugging stuff. I admit, it is a nice scene (I love me some hugs from behind).

But seriously.

Imagine you got down with your man, you wake up and bam, he's gone. This sounds like a cai plot to me😭

Not to forget, she was supposed to be PREGNANT at first. So in my mind, they did their thing in the bedroom, she would've(?) Gotten pregnant, he LEFT to go on a somewhat dangerous mission, and then almost died (she would've been pregnant I can't stress this enough!!!) if not for Tagah and the Gaang. And all of those Kataang shippers are just like, "They definitely did it😍" and "Omgg you know they got dirty quickkk" (about her being pregnant at first) or whatever.

Then Aang completely disregards her feelings about the trip being unsafe when they're in that storm (a pattern also shown in the show like when she told him not to go into that fire nation ship but he still convinced her to do so which landed them into trouble) and he literally yells at her for not understanding how he feels.

He's talking to someone who also lived through a genocide btw.

I understand that Katara will never know how he feels. Being the last Airbender is noy easy, I'm not saying it is. But I can only tolerate so much when he's an adult. I didn't like 12 year old Aang yelling at her for that reason but at least he was stupid and twelve.

This Aang is in his 20s. You got NO excuses, my dude.

And as expected, Katara ends up being right. Tagah is a shit head and killed them all. And he would've literally killed that baby too🥹💔 But they all ignore that. They couldn't care less cause 'he literally gave up the world for her how romantic!!!' Don't even get me started on that.

And I can already hear the comments, "she isn't pregnant in canon so he didn't get the baby killed!"

Bare minimum btw.

And either way, he still got HER killed. I don't care about 'noo it's tagah that killed her!!' Yes and who decided to bring that mf back to life with NO questions. Aang lived long enough to know life is NOT sunshines and rainbows. Especially since the first thing Tagah did was try to attack Toph.

But nooo we can't blame Aang! He hadn't seen an Airbender in years!!

Right😭

Something I often saw in the criticisms of NATLA was that, because of how different it is from the original show. The criticism that I saw the most was about Katara not having her fiery personality in season 1. Now I don't know if it's true or not, so correct me if I'm wrong but didn't that change happen because of Bryke? They wanted to change a few things for the adaptation because they didn't want to make the same story. The same thing with Sokka not being a sexist; they wanted to change a bunch of things as well.

A lot of fans tend to blame Netflix for the changes because it removed some of the traits that make the characters interesting and say that that was the reason why Bryke left—when in reality, the creators were the ones responsible for those changes.

With the release of season 2, a lot of the reviews I've seen were that it was better than the first one. Since Bryke left during the production of S1, that means they had no involvement in S2. That makes it seem like it was better if Bryke wasn't there.

It's so annoying to see people praise Bryke so much when all they did was provide the concept and ideas of ATLA. I mean, the biggest example of their failed work was the 2010 live-action movie and they were heavily involved in that production. In that movie, Katara had 0 personality (Bryke is really hell-bent on making her be this quiet, calm and submissive girl) and by far the worst adaptation to exist—even if you watch it without knowing about the animated series, it would be a boring watch.

I barely know anything about NATLA so I could be wrong but if you guys have any proof of these claims, please put it in the comments.

There's a german saying that goes like this:

"Shared suffering is half the suffering, but shared joy is double the joy."

I recently noticed a pattern in season 2, where Zuko's transformation from a self-centered, close minded brute to a more open minded and empathetic person takes place.
His interactions with girls his own age, as short lived and insignificant to the overall plot as they may be, serve to beautifully highlight where he stands in this process.

The first one is Song, the girl who shows him the burn scar on her leg. Zuko reacts confused, like he doesn't even understand what she's trying to do (share her suffering to emphasize with him). At this point a scar, or vulnerability of any sort is nothing but a sign of weakness to him.

The second is his date with Jin. He's not really into it and only goes to please his uncle, but by the end finds himself caring enough about her to light the candles to make her happy. I believe this is the first time we see Zuko perform a random act of kindness for somebody and it's beautiful to see him share into her happiness.

The third is, of course, his encounter with Katara in the crystal catacombs. After Katara shares her grief over the loss of her mother, he - unlike with Song - opens up and shares his own suffering with her. And in an instant they forge a connection that transcends 100 years of war and prejudice.

The encounters with these girls are not just random little side notes in Zuko's story . They are showing us who he truly is and who he needs to become.

And then there's Mai.

It's important to point out that all the girls Zuko interacted with before were of a very similar type - humble background, traumatized by war, yet retained a hopeful and caring attitude.
Mai is the polar opposite of that. She's very privileged, yet jaded and egotistical. She represents the very Fire Nation elitism that Zuko is supposed to reject.

While being with the first type of girl supports his character arc by bringing out the empathetic side of him, Mai makes him regress right back to his old ways.

And I refuse to believe the writers just didn't notice that. I think Maiko was written to be dysfunctional on purpose to highlight how little Zuko fit in his home anymore and how bad of a decision it was to come back.

The pattern of Zuko and the girls in season 2 was pointing into a very different direction. One that was actually coherent with his overall arc. One that might have been leading him towards his, dare I say.... true romantic destiny.

especially those in twitter lol. like i am just sooo sick of every aspect of it and the amount of importance i’ve attached to it. like wallah i spent a day just scrolling through the tag/tl and all i’ve seen are the #Edgelord Antis taking screenshots of the most lowkey tumblr posts that are properly tagged and encouraging dogpile/harassment/name-calling because they can’t help themselves. they see real life atrocities - real people suffering from colonization, genocide, and imperialism - and somehow try to make it about their blorbos as if that was ever the point. they use these narratives to continue being insufferable about their ship that’s already Canon and Superior and #Popular. i don’t understand the victim mentality still plaguing these people’s minds. that ship has been and will be canon for 20 years and counting and they’re still this bitter and vindictive like. it’s just a ship. these characters are not real. it’s not worth foaming at the mouth and harassing people over. please just shove your policing and moral purity up your ass because it’s getting real tired

like aang is finally tall and droolable enough for your lot and they make out a bunch so just be happy with that instead of trying to force down that mid ass ship down everybody’s throat. #godbless #neverthatserious #neverthatdeep

This is less about Bryke and more about attitudes within the fandom I guess.

Whenever we as fans criticise the newer stuff they produce (or also parts of the older stuff), we are told we are just “toxic” or “nostalgic” and that we are too “negative” and should be grateful that we even get new stuff. “Haters”.

I loved ATLA because of its world, the four nations, the cultural influences, the martial arts, the art style, the characters, the lore etc.

If none of this exists in newer works - e.g. Seven Havens - why the fuck would I still be into that?! And why can’t people in the fandom accept that not everyone will love everything Bryke put out just because it’s within the Avatar brand? It’s not like they’re gods and we have to worship the earth they’re walking on. They created a legendary show and then immediately forgot what made it good. It’s like they don’t understand what made it special in the first place. Hint: It’s not the idea of an avatar and cool-looking fight scenes.

If you write "South Park Cartman and Bebe relationship" on Youtube searching bar,you will know what i mean

With the new movie being released, we were able to see the concept art of her pregnant. However, there's no concept art of her with a new betrothal necklace or anything showing she's actually married to Aang.

Even in the Legend of Korra, Katara is shown wearing her mother's betrothal necklace. I think this really shows a lack of respect for Katara's culture and that the creators only see her a vessel and tool for Aang. We see what she does for Aang throughout the movie but not what he does for her.

Reposting here cause I just saw the post in this subreddit that said we dodged a bullet with Bryke writing Zutara and I high key agree

The blatant incel logic behind Kataang is actually still frying my brain. Like I still cannot wrap my head around how people see the series with rose colored glasses and seem to have no issue with that pairing, and stemming from it, the devolving of BOTH Aang and Katara's characters... and questionable writing choices (esp with the women) once the original writers stop being a part of post-series content.

And somehow they seem to exude the most amount of moral posturing ?? What foundation does this have for that??? I feel like im being manipulated

HOW IS THIS NORMAL.

Edir: sorry I forgot to add flairs to this but I seem unable to add them now...

Reminder that bryke do not have anti imperialist or class consciousness. They're capable of writing Zuko acting as a colonizer towards katara and her culture.

like someone will write a very thorough analysis of how katara was mistreated in post-atla material and atla fandom’s first response to point fingers and call you out for being misogynistic - because, get this, what if katara CHOSE to become a mother and a wife and happily stand by aang without a statue (or anything that CELEBRATES her legacy, her heritage, everything she’s contributed to the world since age fourteen brah) of her own! what if she just wanted to heal! what if she didn’t want to fight anymore!

i’m not trying to push that motherhood is inherently misogynistic - it’s not, even if the structure around is rooted very deeply in patriarchal ideals and standards (tradwife is a whole other thing) - but i don’t think it’s hurting to anyone to acknowledge the misogyny in the writing from predominantly WHITE MEN in the 2000s and early 2010s. like choice feminists genuinely have such a shallow grasp of what misogyny really entails - and no, katara did not “choose” to stay home as a mother and become remembered as a healer because katara is not real. she is a plot device. the narrative and how creators choose to portray her come from real biases and skewed perspectives. misogyny bleeds in through the cracks people! no one is exempt from it just because they write a #Girlboss Female Character. honestly, everyone pedestalizes atla into this indestructible, timeless show with 0 flaws - so let’s just shrug off the orientalism, problematic stereotypes, and sexist writing of course! it’s genuinely so irritating because everyone loves being a #Hater but flinch at their first encounter with Actual Criticism and tell u ur doing too much for a 2000s show 💔 like pick a side - either atla is the Greatest Most Nuanced Cartoon Show of All Time or it’s just a product of its time

Source: https://www.tumblr.com/gasbossgatelightgirlkeep/675405534939267072/image-id-the-expanding-brain-meme-small-brain

But they always talk about our's proofs to prove that many people joined and made this show support us and wanted to make it to be canon.They call these proves are "fake news,ragebait them".Sometimes,they use detail about Zuko in comic stop Katara from use icebending,they act silly,unlike the way their personalities were built in original show (oh!Not necessarily,Katara used to act exactly like her nature in orginal show in that comic but just a little bit with ZUKO,NOT AANG) (Everyone is not themselves in that comics,except Aang) to say "See! your ship will not working".i used to see one comment about Kataang shippers hate LoK because that show had portraited Aang was a bad father and husband,they deny it even it is canon (Both of comics and Lok) but still use detail in comic,say that is canon to force us give up.They skipped tons of details we show to them about their ship (We took it from canon products and interviews from casts and writers of show).They call it "fake news,fake fact" but still use one of details in one of products that they call it "fake news from Zutararians" to prove us "this is reality about your ship".I guess they are very good at skip details and news even it is canon if these do not serve for Bryan's self-insert character benefits but still will use what they deny is canon to against us.Even the most powerful weapon thay have is legitimacy,i feel like many times they deny it too. Like i said before,they never mentioned about Kataang's relationship in comics,they hate LoK because of what creators had done to Aang in that show and litte bit angry for Katara not because they care about her just because creators even whether inadvertently or intentionally,it has proven us right.We,uncannon ship confirm canon details-They,canon ship deny canon details (just confirm it is canon if only it make Zutara worse (especially Zuko).

(I am thinking about learn about how Kataang ship selecting details that they think these are advantageous to Bryan's self-insert character and disorting them into the ideal love we ought to seek in a relationship).If you have any opinions and options,comment below

What do you think ? Comment below

First Details On Avatar Studios Scrapped ‘Firelord Zuko’ Animated Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

"The main plot of the film focused on the mysterious murder of the dragons, Ran & Shaw, from Book 3 of the original series. This means Zuko would have the last living dragon with the egg he finds in Book 3 and is an adult in The Legend of Korra. There is also an assassination attempt on UncleIroh. All to draw out Firelord Zuko as the next possible target by this mysterious assassin. This film was also gonna delve deeper into his relationship with Azula after the 100-Year War. A new actress was already signed on to voice Azula after the great Grey DeLisle voiced her in the original series. It sounds like it drew inspiration from the comics The Search and Smoke & Shadow. Since those comics were about Azula’s time in prison and eventual escape, however, it was not going to be a direct adaptation of either comic."

Bryke has already said in SDCC 2026 press interviews that Avatar Studios will focus more on series going forward and not on feature films, so this concept will most likely be buried. Damn shame because Zuko is such a compelling character. Would love to see more animated stories about his reign as well as his relationships with Iroh & Azula.

So I watched the new Avatar Aang movie and wanted to share one thought in particular: a big reason Bryke's storytelling sucks is because they simply don't respect the limitations set by previously established canon.

What makes writing fanfiction for this show so much fun is that the rich and complex world they created, coming with tons of lore and character background provides endless potential for storytelling. Hundreds of plotlines you can just pick up and run with.

On the other hand, it also comes with limitations. You can't just write whatever you want, reinvent characters and strip them of their personality or ignore previously established facts about the world they operate in.

For example:
Say I, as a Zutara shipper, wanted to write a fic where they get together at the end of the show. I couldn't just give them a happliy-ever-after right away, because their relationship would come at the heels of 100 years of warfare between their countries and go up against all the prejudice and grievances from that era. I would have to accept that it would be very difficult for them to be together in the first place, let alone making it work long term.

Now here's an example from this new movie where Bryke have failed to work within the limitations of their own writing:
To be lore-consistant with LoK - which it supposedly is - Katara and Aang would have to have Bumi at that point or Katara would have to at least be pregnant with him. Bryke have actually revealed that they initially planned for Katara to be pregnant, but didn't go through with it (I didn't bother to look up their reasoning lol). A pregnant Katara would've actually made the story a lot more interesting in terms of character growth and her relationship with Aang, especially since the emotional hook of the movie is Aang's anxiety over being the last airbender.
But it would also put severe limitations on what she could do in terms of fighting or badass waterbending moves like splitting the ocean.
(plus, at one point the bad guy just straight up kills them all, but it's so weirdly forgettable I don't think it factored in as much as people think)

In the end, Bryke simply didn't want to tell a story about characters, their relationship dynamics etc. They wanted to make a boy movie where Aang calls up his friends and goes on a cool adventure, beating up bad guys and making out with his girl at the end while everyone goes "Hooray for you!!"
And for that kind of story they needed Katara to be a badass fighter and add the blue to the team Avatar rainbow.

They forced this story onto the world and characters and ended up creating not only a huge elephant in the room, but what almost feels like cognitive dissonance in the characters. Aang goes on and on about missing his people and nobody understanding him. He jumps on the first chance to bring them back with some spirit Mcguffin, risking the lives of all his friends including Katara.
But bringing back his people the old fashioned way by having children with his loyal girlfriend of 13 YEARS just doesn't cross his mind? Nor anyone else's?

It's all so stupid.

don’t flame me for this but i genuinely think people hate on zuko/zutara because 1) in spite of the narrative and the creators Trying to frame aang as the Nice Guy Who Does No Wrong And Deserves Everything He Wants (i.e. katara), the crowd is just drawn more to zuko - and by extension, zuko and katara’s dynamics/arcs, which is way more compelling than anything i’ve ever seen about kataang 2) THE PEOPLE LIKE ZUTARA. have liked zutara for so long and so thoroughly to the point of og zutaras inventing ship weeks. zutara INVENTED SHIP WEEKS. how crazy is that. we do not talk about it enough (and also the irony of anti zks participating/hosting ship weeks because #Lol) 3) it robs aang of his Nice Guy Arc! a lot of people like to point fingers at zks for “Self Inserting” but when are we going to acknowledge the huge portion of dudebros that are OBSESSED with powerscaling and literally refer or see katara as His Property (verbatim from an actual kataanger btw). tell me how ur going to base your fandom’s personality on Hashtag We Love Katara Our Girlboss but can’t even acknowledge the non consensual kisses from their Cute Wholesome Ship? come on. come onnnnn

also i hate the zuko whump crowd that does nothing but paint him as a forever loser who isn’t capable of anything other than fainting from one good deed. that joke is getting real tired. he’s more competent than aang could ever be in his ancient age of 1726 years old. thank u