#and YEAH sokka does read more trans sure. but he also is the one who got made fun of for at least like matching his belt and bag
Text
there is, Obviously, fundamentally a difference between headcanon and an analytical reading of text, and treating the two as exactly the same is not only wrong but devalues both, but funnily, i've found people tend to forget that both of these things are the product of referencing our real life experiences and applying them where we see fit to make a more interesting way to interact with media. and you can't just like, forget that it's not JUST about headcanons and meta analysis and whatever, because people in real life also still matter. and in real life, there are different stakes and EXPERIENCES, and those experiences lead to thinking the way we do because that's how you Be a goddamn person, which is why it's ironic is all 😭
like, saying zuko atla has to be cis in order to be "properly" gay in order to be Truly Compelling narratively is fucking ridiculous. textually, zuko is not actually gay. he never was intended to be, he never will be intended to be, he was never even subtextually. the assumption otherwise is already rooted in fantasy, and the tongue in cheek assertion that it isn't, which means it has more credence, is ... dumb? childish? admitting to at least yourself that the things you talk about wrt character analysis aren't the intention of the creator is literally half the point of doing said analysis – you're MEANT to throw away the intended interpretation in order to give it a new life through different keyholes without entirely divorcing itself from the text. (in the same breath, insisting the creator truly meant One Thing when they absolutely would not have/don't care at all, and ignoring that the people who made the piece are going to put their own biases and experiences and background into the media itself and actually MUST be taken into account for things like this is just ... well. Stop That.)
i've personally never been someone to ever claim that The Writers All Along INTENDED to do something that they obviously didn't, like make a character from a 2005 cartoon lgbt+. this doesn't mean that reading doesn't have any substance or cannot possibly hold any meaning, or that it's wrong. if you can't be objective about your own readings what's the damn point... leaning into it being fiction, which changes just by being observed by a different person, is why it's fun or interesting to do in the first place. and yeah there are some basic cookie cutter headcanons people like to fling around, and there can be criticism for that otherwise, but claiming headcanons themselves AREN'T an offshoot of this way of thinking is fucking stupid. like it's plain wrong.
our own thoughts on why a character acts, what they do, what their presentation is, why their personality is what it is up to and including their sexuality, gender identity, religion, JOB, whatever, are made to fill the gaps the text can't or won't provide, and in the case of lgbt ones as long as it's not actively harmful (as in like insisting a lesbian character is bi or something) it is literally harmless seeing as it is fairly solidly a "won't", along with a whole bunch of other hc material that usually don't see the light of day on-screen nonstereotypically. people seeing themselves in characters isn't new but more than that, saying that you know this but then pushing it aside because The Analysis Means More when it's Realistic And Plausible is fucking dumb. and rude. bc the entire point of drawing the line of connections this way is how WE see them. being all like "oh well, your own personal identity is still valid otherwise, don't get your feelings hurt bc it doesn't matter," is moot if you've already asserted there's only One real way to be... plausible 🤨. which is to be NORMAL ! duh.
like, the read that zuko IS gay (and cis) relies on extracting parts through the lens of our own gay perceptions and is why cishet fans don't pick up on it, but you can ask pretty much any other lgbt fan and they'll agree. zuko's narrative arc IS compelling with the read that he is gay, from the way he is ostracised by his family, neglected and abused, the "punishment" he receives and then continues to become his own warden of, the order of his death and the banishment itself, sozin criminalising homosexuality, his inability to connect with others especially his own age, his inability to seamlessly interact with girls, his literal externalised viewing of seeing himself as someone with Two Sides, them being good vs evil, realising he can change the damn world through love and acceptance, striving for peace, being the face of change for his nation, relearning what it means to be who he is once he is free from his past, the shame and humiliation rituals, the claim of his father that he is worthless as a prince and person, AND MORE... and i cannot express enough here how fucking little it matters if he's specifically gay or WHAT THE HELL EVER 😭.
to claim in no small way that it's impossible for a trans person, or a bisexual person, or anyone else lgbt, could ever line up his narrative with their own personal one is so beyond ridiculous it gives me a headache. no, "plausibly", i don't think zuko is like, transmasc. yes, plausibly, he could be gay. plausibly, he could be amab nonbinary but no one seems to actually give a fuck about that for some reason (i wonder!). nothing would change in both cases, because he's not actually either, so i really don't see the point in making fun of or being frustrated by one to lift up the other because you want cisgender boot soles to brush the back of your throat THAT badly. the implausibility of thinking any way about a fictional character should be taken into account to an extent, sure, but at the end of the day neither of us are doing anything truly worthwhile, and no one is claiming that it's the intent from the beginning to say otherwise, so what's the point here. why are we doing this. let's go skip in a meadow together before i kill someone with this rock.
#🐾#tldr i am actually just so sick of people saying the word plausible#it's not plausible for this character to be trans. well OKAY. THARS NOT THE FUCKING POINT IDIOT#not every fucking thing people do is for the sake of furthering the fucking plot holy shit what is wrong with you#these people will never know joy or happiness and forever be miserable bc they're just OBSESSED with trying to rationalise.. art?!#LIKE ITS NOT GONNA HAPPENNNN 😭#even if it is a plausible trans read people will pick it apart. I Know. i've been there. people do not and i hate to break it to you#like trans people. even other trans people. SHOCK HORROR. jesus christ#this is a real torture dungeon of my own creation#also my two cents personally i think the sum of who zuko is as a person is first and foremost autistic and gay. and everything else is as#an abuse victim. and i honestly don't care if he's trans bc it doesn't matter in the way ppl need to be tantruming over#but it still would be just as significant if not more so. acruallg definitely more so what the hell. my family doesn't hate me bc i Like#Boys .. OR GIRLS.#and YEAH sokka does read more trans sure. but he also is the one who got made fun of for at least like matching his belt and bag#or liking shopping or being feminine ..#is this what people mean when they say that... that katara would be transphobic to her own brother 😭#well probably not. anyway.#if we're being textual sokka literally IS the one with some sort of gay subtext just FOR being the victim of the charming 2000s lightly#homophobic joking. not zuko. no one gives af about zuko#it does not break my arm to say zuko got banished for being too much sowmrbing and not enough something and got to be himself afterwards#in the slow journey that that took. this could mean literlalt anything. so who cares#he's lgbt all at once. There. bitch#also these ppl bc it was a whole bunch ofc. seemed to just mostly be mad bc zuko got the hc more#like how is that everyone else's problem now. just make sokka trans more ... idiot#☆
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This is a big ask so don't feel like you have to, but would you be interested in pitching some summaries of the fics you have up on Ao3? I know there are summaries up there, but I like the casual way you have with words and you say fuck a lot and I dunno yeah
omg this is so funny bc i know the exact way with words you're talking about and of course im not gonna pass up a chance to promote my own work hehe YOU GOT IT!
i have 20 atla fics so I'm going to recommend them in order of... least to most kudos??? to try to trick people into reading more of my stuff? lol idk
I'm 99% sure all of these are Zukka fics...
The Last Five Years - ok actually this is a bad place to start bc i don't think im gonna finish it. it just really didn't take off but um its a The Last Five Years AU with really fucking sad Divorced Zukka
Do Not Stand At My Grave and Cry - this is i think my newest one, it has trans zukka and it's a bit angsty with a fake death but i also think it's kind of fun. it's the idea trans people have of ''who's going to care if my family puts the wrong name on my gravestone?" but there IS a happy ending
A Problem Halved is a Problem Shared - im gonna be honest i dont fucking remember writing this one lol but it says dialogue-only and it WILL be angsty bc it is about zuko and sokka dealing with different issues they have
One Last Time (and its sequel The End of All Things) - Actually OLT is definitely one of my faves I ever wrote. It's my canon-compliant take on um... *cough* Sokka's death, referenced in Korra. It's SO angsty but it has one of the most visceral scenes I've ever written and I DID cry writing this. TEoAT is the happy ending Divorced Zukka deserved with bonus Iroh but you WILL cry reading that too. BUT i cant fucking recommend these ones enough!!!!
If I fade away (the awful things we do to make the head go quiet) - VERY dead dove. trans zuko needs to pay a MASSIVE price to get home to the Fire Nation after Ba Sing Se, and it's not his choice at all. I love this but READ WITH CAUTION
In Which Sokka is Supportive Ally Boyfriend Goals - I am dead serious i like dont remember this one at all but i know it has trans zuko!
Nourishing the Flame Within - not the best written tbhtbh BUT it does have two very important Zukos in it that I hold to be universally true: trans zuko and eating disorder zuko
bad idea right? - okay this is DEF one of my faves lol its about divorced zukka but they just cant stop messing things up and sleeping with each other even though theyre not together anymore lolol
Keeping it in the Family - lmao OKAY SO this is the ONE version of zukka that im like 'ok all u z*tara folks, maybe zuko WAS with her and it obvs didnt work' and then he hooks up with sokka instead and its GREAT but oops now we have Family Drama
Scars of Trust - bro im not gonna like i barely remember writing this one but i remember I LOVE IT and it's about sokka who has been dating zuko a while but he finally learns that zuko is trans? its great
Playing the Long Game - eh, i don't love it, but I'd say it's worth a read. it was my first longer fic in the fandom. it DOES have a great Zukki evolution though if you're into that, and a nice mystery!! Also some whump and angst bc of course
Keeping Score - I liked this one! It's just little snippets of times Sokka has survived assassination attempts, because we always hear about it happening to Zuko, but Sokka gets them too. Angst obviously
It Was Cruel and It Was Wrong - wow, a dead dove fic, yes. It's basically like "If I'm Joo Lee and you're Joo Lee, then who's flying the bison?" Yeah so Sokka and Zuko are both brainwashed by the Dai Lee and Suffering but be careful because this gets DARK
Mother - Izumi has two dads but she feels bad she doesn't have a mom. But guess what, her dads don't have moms either!! She's very happy to find that out! Wow Izumi, way to have some sympathy.
Impact - It's about Zuko taking a longer time to recover from an assassination attempt than he'd want, and Sokka being loving and patient with him! I wrote this when I had a bad concussion for like three weeks and so it's pretty like. Medically accurate lol
Scratchy - Short and sweet. I don't remember this one much but I know that it is fluffy and involves turtle ducks!
Hidden Pain, Shared Love - Another short and fluffy one. It's about the first time Zuko sees that Sokka has problems with his leg sometimes?
Zuko and Sokka Get Engaged in the Most Zukka Way Possible - okay i actually really love this one because it's on brand and cute and also i made it fucking angsty because oF COURSE
Zuko Amongst the Dragons - yes so what if zuko was raised by dragons and met the gaang but he was super feral? and what if shenanigans ensued? AND what if sokka and zuko fell in love anyway????
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😌 i saw your trans atla headcanons and do you have any headcanons about katara and aang being amazing trans parents to their trans kids ❤✨
lsdfljdslfdk yeah of course! also just so you know nonbinary Tenzin lives in my brain rent free and I haven’t even watched lok so thank you so much for that <3
first off, Katara’s a transfem enby (she/they though she tends to prefer she) and Aang’s a transmasc enby (he/they and they like it when you shuffle the pronouns around as much as possible.)
after the war, Katara and Aang do spend a lot of time rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe and liaising with other nations, but they also spend time just. being kids. Penguin sledding, dancing, etc, etc
but after a while they decide they want to settle down and have a family.
both of them really want to start a family but also both of them are completely terrified about starting a family and for a moment they try to keep it from each other because they both think that the other one doesn’t seem scared about it at all
both of them are talking to Sokka like “I don’t know how they seem so calm! I’m not calm!” and Sokka rolls his eyes and says “please talk to your spouse.”
this only lasts for a couple days and they both break at the same time
and then they have a long conversation about how they want to parent their children, how to make sure that their kids have connections to both of their cultures (bc as a multiracial kid what people have said about the airbender kids not knowing their own grandma is deeply deeply upsetting to me)
they also affirm to each other that if their kids are trans, they want them to feel as happy and safe and loved as possible, and outline some steps for that.
and after this conversation they both feel much better, because they’re still totally terrified, but at least they’re terrified together <333333
so then Bumi’s born and they give them a lot of autonomy in picking out their clothes and toys and such, and explain that gender is a social construct and that Bumi can identify however they want, and Bumi’s like “ok. I don’t have a gender.”
When Jet comes to visit and Bumi very proudly tells hir that they don’t have a gender Jet’s totally stoked about it (all my hcs are Jet lives aus)
Bumi exclusively uses they/them and makes agender jokes pretty constantly as a kid, much to their parents’, Sokka’s, Suki’s, and Jet’s absolute delight.
they typically dress fairly masc but sometimes they’ll have a day where they’re like “I feel like dressing more fem today” and then they do and they feel totally awesome about it.
I also hc them as being really into the Kyoshi Warriors? idk why but I feel that for them.
Like they read about the Kyoshi Warriors a lot and then when they find out Suki’s a Kyoshi Warrior they ask for her autograph or something cute like that
And then Suki’s like “....you know, you can be a Kyoshi Warrior if you want?”
And Bumi’s like “wait what yes please”
Bumi repeatedly asks their parents to let them train with the Kyoshi Warriors
Katara’s like “that’s dangerous” so then Bumi finds a history book and lists every single dangerous thing that she and Aang did when they were Bumi’s age
Aang’s like “can’t argue with that” and lets them go, on the condition that they stay with Suki as often as possible.
Suki promises to take good care of them (and she does! Suki may be cool but when it comes to the Warriors they can be very strict.)
Shortly after Bumi comes out, Kya’s born. A couple years later, Aang and Katara have the gender conversation with her. Kya had basically been thinking of herself as a girl (she’s transfem) but as she grew older, her relationship with girlhood became more complicated.
As an adult, she realized that her gender was a lot less binary than she had initially anticipated, and heavily intersected with her identity as a lesbian
She talked to Aang and Katara about it, and through that conversation she decided to start using they/them as well as she/her.
Over time, they realized that they, like Aang, really liked people to shuffle her pronouns around. Her family and their friends were pretty good at doing this with Aang, and they started doing it with her pretty much seamlessly.
Kya’s identity as a nonbinary woman and Kya’s identity as a lesbian are very tied together in her mind, and she doesn’t like to treat those identities as separate.
Katara tells her how she learned Waterbending from a guy who thought women were only capable of healing, and Kya laughs at the story because in her eyes her mom is capable of anything.
Kya thinks her parents are going to be disappointed in her because she prefers healing over fighting, but both Aang and Katara are incredibly supportive of her, and so she keeps on developing her healing abilities.
And then there’s Tenzin
Tenzin doesn’t really have a sense of their identity at an early age. They very quickly absorb what their parents and siblings and extended family and family friends tell them about gender and how you don’t need dysphoria to be trans, but they have a hard time applying that to themself.
Tenzin: “people don’t need dysphoria to be trans!”
Tenzin’s brain: “except for you <3”
Tenzin: “except for me <3″
deep, deep down in their subconscious, they know that they’re Not Cis in some way, but they ignore it for a while.
when they come out as questioning their gender, Aang and Katara are so proud of them, and make sure to do everything they can to support their kid as they try to figure out their gender.
and they’re a happy trans family, and Katara and Aang can’t remember what they were scared of. the end
#asks#headcanons#maeples#really hope i did them all justice!#atla#aang#katara#bumi ii#kya ii#tenzin#jet#suki#atla trans hcs#trans time
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